


Embrace

by BloodthirstyMerc



Series: Commish cache [10]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Adoption, Brudick - Freeform, Child Abandonment, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff, Husbands, I have no idea what to tag for this, Impulsive adoption, Kinda, M/M, and kids - Freeform, dick just wants to do the right thing, he wants kids, wow a sfw fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 06:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17996681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodthirstyMerc/pseuds/BloodthirstyMerc
Summary: He’s not sure what to say in that moment. He’d just… brought a baby home. Like it was normal, like it was his only option at the time.{{Comm for my server wife}}





	Embrace

**Author's Note:**

> I mod a DC RP server on Discord. Pro all ships and no ships, is 18+ so don't join if you're not. (you will be banned)
> 
>  
> 
> [Come join the fun :D](https://discord.gg/qe4Hu8J)

Dick should have been home by now. He’d told Bruce that he was on his way back nearly an hour ago now. But as always, he shouldn’t have even bothered trying to make such a promise. It’s not like once he decides his ‘shift’ is over, crime will just stop, and he’ll be able to head home easily.

“Christ,” Is all he’s able to mutter to himself.

This wasn’t what he’d expected to find. Though, when he’d heard crying from nearly a block away, he knew there was no way any parent was going to be out with an infant at this time of the morning. Not in Gotham, that was for sure. His chest feels tight as he steps up to the box on the ground. A fucking box, like it was a litter of kittens left abandoned in a back alley. Dropping to his knee he takes a quick look around him. He knew there was no one around, he’d already checked the area before he dropped down into the alley, but he was never one to tread without caution.

Slowly and carefully, he picks the baby up from the box. There’s a blanket folded up in the bottom of the box and the baby is bundled up pretty well given the circumstances. This baby wasn’t abandoned with the thought of making sure it died, they wanted it to be found. Still was a pretty shitty way to go about it.

Dick does a quick look over of the baby. There’s no note in or on the side of the box, nothing wrapped up in the blanket with her. She’s not screaming anymore, but she’s still crying as he wraps her back into the blanket tightly.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.” His voice is soft and low as he rubs his hand against her back. She can’t be more than two months old. He rocks her slowly until her noises simmer down to small hiccups.

He takes the other blanket from the box before discarding the cardboard into the nearby dumpster, and the relief that he didn’t find her in there is almost overwhelming. He’s seen his fair share of the terrible shit mankind is capable of.

His mind races the whole way home, keeping to the back alleys as much as he can to avoid being confronted or even spotted in the first place. The walk home is long and tiresome and the weight against his chest seems to weirdly feel lighter the closer he gets. It also takes him far too long since he’s not going to risk grappling his way through the city with a baby in his arms.

He’s not at all surprised that when he gets back, Bruce is still awake in the cave. Because when isn’t he? Dick hesitates for a second, dropping his gaze to the baby. She’d fallen asleep.

“Bruce,” He’s not sure what to say in that moment. He’d just… brought a baby home. Like it was normal, like it was his only option at the time.

“I was expecting you to be home over an hour ago. Are you okay?” Bruce asks before he actually turns his attention from his work and looks over to Dick.

He falls silent, gaze fixated on the bundle in Dick’s arms. Dick lets out a heavy sigh and drops the spare blanket on a workbench before he works his domino off. Bruce doesn’t move, he doesn’t even blink as Dick steps up to him. He chews his bottom lip and lowers his own gaze to her face. She, at the least, looked peaceful.

“I didn’t know what to do. I sort of just… listened to my gut when I found her.”

When Dick lifts his head again, Bruce is looking at him. Dick swallows as he tries to get a read on him. It really shouldn’t be a problem after all these years, especially since they’re married now, and yet he still wasn’t always able to figure it out.

“Where was she?”

“Newtown, a block away from the gardens. No one was around.”

Bruce drops his gaze to her again. He lifts his hand and lightly presses the back of his hand to her forehead.

“Does she have any injuries?”

“I gave her a quick look over and there weren’t any that I could see right away.”

“I can look through any files of any missing babies or anyone making claims about anything suspicious behaviour that might lead to a baby being abandoned in that area. I’ll take a blood test too to get a better check up while I’m doing that.”

“Bruce,” Dick cuts in. He lets out a small sigh and runs his free hand through his hair. “It’s late, we can do that first thing tomorrow, okay? I’m tired and right now, I just wanna make sure that she’s cleaned and fed.”

Bruce looks her over again before he lets out a small sigh.

“Okay. I’ll head to a twenty-four-hour store and get what we need.”

“Thank you.” The tension in Dick’s shoulders drops and he leans into Bruce when he presses a firm kiss to his forehead. “I’ll see what I can do about setting up somewhere for her to sleep and give her a bath.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Dick nods and tips his head up a little to give Bruce a quick kiss before he heads off. He wishes he could get out of his suit and clean himself up, but he can wait. No matter how tired he is.

They really don’t have anything suitable for a baby anywhere around the manor, which isn’t surprising, but he still finds it frustrating. He narrows down the ideas to either having to set her up on the couch or in their bed with them. It’s all they really have, and either way, he knows he’s not going to be away from her at all. They have enough pillow and blankets around that it’ll be fine, he’s just not at all okay with the idea of setting her up in a room away from them in one of the spare beds.

He takes her up to the en suite bathroom connected to his and Bruce’s room and runs a shallow bath and reluctantly shifts her in his hold so he can undress her. Naturally, it wakes her, but besides making low noises, she doesn’t actually cry.

“Hey sweetie, it’s okay.” He coos as he gives her a better look over. Still no signs of injury, and she looks like she’d been well fed. It was all relieving to know that she wasn’t hurt or neglected before her abandonment.

He’s not even ready to blame the parents for what they’d done yet. If they’re able to find them, he wants to know _why_ they left her. Chances are, this wasn’t something that they wanted to do. She’d be in worse condition if that was the case. At least, Dick wants to believe there was a somewhat sensible or understandable reason that she was abandoned.

Dick’s almost finished washing her when there’s a light knock on the doorframe. He lifts his gaze as Bruce comes into the room.

“How is she?”

“She looks fine. Doesn’t look like she’s even dehydrated or anything like that.” Dick shrugs as he focuses back on her.

“I’ll still go make up a bottle for her.” Bruce offers as he places a small packet of diapers down on the basin and a little onesie atop them. Dick frowns slightly and looks back to him.

“I didn’t know twenty-four-hour stops sold baby clothes.”

“Don’t worry about it,” And then Bruce is leaving the room. Dick chews his bottom lip and actually chooses not to dwell on it too much for once. He’s sure Bruce will tell him later where he’d been able to get the onesie from. It was plain white, so Dick can make a few guesses.

He finished washing her and gets her dressed. The onesies a little big on her, but it’s better than putting her back in the dirty one. He wraps takes the dirty clothes and blanket to the laundry and shoves them right into the washing machine before he makes his way to the kitchen. Bruce is leaning up against the table with the bottle beside him.

“Here, I’ll handle this. Go get cleaned up.” He offers as he moves into Dick’s space and holds his arms out to take the baby.

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

Dick’s smile softens as he passes her over to Bruce, watching him as he positions her comfortably in the crook of his arm. It’s not a sight Dick had ever thought he’d see. He can’t ever recall Bruce ever being around a baby and he’s not used to seeing Bruce so gentle either. It leaves his chest feeling warm in a way he knows it shouldn’t.

“Thanks, I’ll be as quick as I can.”

“Dick, take your time. I can handle this, okay?”

“I know you can,” Dick assures. He just doesn’t want to miss out on seeing Bruce like this.

Because he knows that he shouldn’t get his hopes up that this will just become something for him to see daily. That was -for a lack of better words- absurd. He takes in the sight fully, drinking it in so that he can lock the image away in his mind as something to treasure for as long as he can keep it there. Then he heads off before Bruce throws him out the room.

By the time that he returns to the kitchen, probably after having the quickest shower he can manage while making sure that he’s actually cleaned properly, Bruce has finished feeding her. He fiddles with the ends of his jumper sleeves as he steps up to them. Bruce has her cradled against his chest, rubbing her back lightly.

“I’m surprised she wasn’t crying more with how hungry she was.” He notes when Dick stands beside him. He crosses his arms over his chest to stop himself from trying to reach for her.

“At least she took the bottle.”

Bruce makes a humming noise of agreement. Dick chews his lip softly. He took the time that he was in the shower to think about the situation. It wasn’t really the best circumstances, and he’s never really even thought about having kids with Bruce and yet… the idea that they’d somewhat been handed this chance was enough to give him a false sense of hope.

“I know what that look means Dick.” Bruce’s voice snaps him out of his trance. He drops his gaze to the floor and refuses to voice anything. Bruce could read him too well no matter the circumstance. Bruce turns to him and reaches out to take Dick’s free hand in his own, rubbing his thumb lightly over the backs of his knuckles.

“I looked through the files while I was out,”

“Of course, you did.” Dick huffs, a small smile spreading onto his face as he gives a small shake of his head.

“And there were no leads from complaints in the area. We have nothing on the database, without a proper investigation we have nothing.”

“Which I was expecting anyway. But we’ll probably continue to find nothing. That’s usually what happens with these sort of cases.” Dick lifts his head again. He looks the baby over.

“Tomorrow morning I’ll contact Gordon and you can take her into the hospital.”

“Okay.” Dick swallows thickly.

“Hopefully we’ll find something. But if not…” Bruce trails off. Dick’s mind pauses for a moment as he slowly lifts his gaze to meet Bruce’s eye.

“If not,” Dick urges on, trying not to let any excitement build in his chest.

“You’ve never actually brought it up, but I know that you’ve thought about kids in the past. Maybe not with me, and that’s understandable with the lives we live,”

“We can make it work though.” Dick cuts in before he’s able to stop himself. Bruce isn’t able to hold back his amused scoff.

“I know.”

Dick swallows and bites into the inside of his bottom lip to try holding back his smile. Bruce’s hand moves to his hip and pulls him closer to his body. Dick presses his face into Bruce’s shoulder and wraps his arms around his waist. He looks down to the baby and she’s fallen asleep again against Bruce’s chest.

“You’re serious?” He asks, his voice almost weak and unsure.

“If you think you’re ready for that kind of responsibility.”

“No one’s ever really ready to be a parent,” Dick lifts his head again to look up at Bruce once more. “But I’ll have you help me out.”

“Always.”

Dick leans into him for a kiss. Slow and soft, lingering as the warmth in Dick’s chest blooms.

“We should head to bed,” Dick suggests as he pulls away. “She’ll have to sleep with us, I hope that’s okay.”

“You’re not sleeping alone with her, that’s for sure.”

“I hope you’re not insinuating that you don’t trust me.”

Bruce’s hum neither confirms nor denies the idea. They leave the kitchen, turning everything off on their way up to their room.

Bruce lays the baby carefully between them in their bed, at chest level, resting her on her stomach. She stirs a little, squirming against the sheets before her eyes slide shut again and she falls still. Dick rests his hand lightly against her back and strokes his thumb against her. He meets Bruce’s gaze as the man settles into bed, his arm coming to rest lightly on Dick’s hip.

“I love you, Bruce,” Dick whispers into the darkness. Bruce leans in to kiss his forehead before he lays back again.

“I love you too.”

Dick’s eyes fall closed and sleep takes him over almost instantly.

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


End file.
